The Texans left tackle added a handful more miscues to the pile against Denver

Tunsil is NFL's most penalized player after loss to Broncos

Cody Stoots
Dec 8, 2019, 3:55 pm
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The Texans had a terrible day but it was especially rough for left tackle Laremy Tunsil.

He started out slow picking up some of the pressure against quarterback Deshaun Watson. That hasn't been constant through the season for the blind side protector. The penalties have been though.

NFLPenalties.com had Tunsil at 13 total penalties with 12 accepted against him on the season. He had nine false starts before the start of the game against the Broncos.

He would add three more false starts to the equation against Denver bringing his accepted penalties to 15 making him the most penalized player in football. His false starts alone would rank him tied for third.

The Texans would punt, settle for a field goal, and end the half on the drives where Tunsil was penalized.

Texans head coach Bill O'Brien said it had to be fixed.

"Laremy (Tunsil) has played very well, but he's had a lot of penalties. He'd be the first to tell you that," he said. "We've gotta continue to try to fix it. We've got to continue to try to help him. Nobody feels worse about that than him."

Last season for the Dolphins, Tunsil was penalized just 10 times. In 2018, the Texans also had the most penalized offensive lineman as Julién Davenport led all offensive linemen with 16 penalties. Tunsil's current number of penalties is 16.

This would seem to be not only a Tunsil problem but also a Texans offense problem. They regularly have a player in or near the top ten in offensive line penalties under Bill O'Brien. It would make sense for early season struggles, but this late in the season there shouldn't be issues like this creeping up for a veteran player.

Tunsil explained after the game he felt he was singled out by officials.

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Houston gets the lopsided win

Valdez, Astros dominate the Angels in 10-0 rout in Anaheim

Framber Valdez was dominant against the Angels on Monday night. Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images

With a series win at home over the weekend, the Astros started their final regular-season road trip on Monday, squaring off against the Angels in Anaheim. They held the momentum firmly in their favor all night, dominating both sides of the game to start the series with a victory.

Final Score: Astros 10, Angels 0

Astros' Record: 89-61, first in the AL West

Winning Pitcher: Framber Valdez (11-5)

Losing Pitcher: Jaime Barria (2-4)

Siri leads off with a bang

With Jose Altuve being given the night off, Houston gave Jose Siri a shot at the leadoff spot, and he delivered to start the opener in Anaheim. He launched a missile to left field, 426 feet, to put the Astros in front 1-0 before the Angels could record an out. Later that same inning, they strung together three singles, the third being an RBI by Carlos Correa to double the lead.

Valdez goes seven shutout innings

That gave Framber Valdez a lead to work with as he stepped on the rubber in the bottom of the inning, and he didn't give it up as he would post a dominant start. He started with a 1-2-3 first, worked around a couple of singles in the second, then used a double play to face the minimum in the third.

He retired Los Angeles in order again in the fourth, stranded a two-out single in the fifth and a single and a walk in the sixth. He had his worst inning of the night in the seventh, giving up a leadoff single then loading the bases on back-to-back two-out walks. He'd escape the jam, though, keeping the shutout alive and finalizing his impressive line: 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 98 P.

Astros take the opener in lopsided fashion

Houston tacked on an insurance run in the top of the eighth, getting a one-out double by Correa to set up an RBI single by Marwin Gonzalez, pushing the lead to 3-0. Things escalated from there, as another single put two on base for Martin Maldonado, who blew the game open with a three-run homer to make it a six-run lead.

Brooks Raley took over for Valdez in the bottom of the inning, and with a 1-2-3 inning, made it his eighth appearance in a row without allowing a run. The Astros didn't let up in the top of the ninth, getting two hits and a walk to load the bases before a grand slam by Gonzalez made it 10-0 and gave him 5 RBI in a two-inning span. Seth Martinez, called up by the Astros earlier in the day, made his big-league debut in the bottom of the ninth and closed out the lopsided win to put Houston's magic number at 6.

Up Next: The second of this four-game set will be another 8:38 PM Central start on Tuesday. Jose Urquidy (7-3, 3.38 ERA) will take the mound for the Astros, going opposite Packy Naughton (0-2, 4.32 ERA) for the Angels.

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